Memory Making: Family Picnic

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Every year, before school is out, we sit down as a family and put together a Summer Bucket List: all the adventures and activities we hope to enjoy as a family before school starts up again. This year we put “family picnic by the lake” on that list and although summer vacation hasn’t yet begun, I got a little excited and jumped the gun this past weekend with a surprise afternoon picnic for the boys. I loaded up all their favorite fruits and sandwiches and cheese and crackers. Then, before we headed out, Sawyer and I tried our hand at some fun lemonade recipes – ya know, to make our picnic feel more fancy. We started with our favorite, all natural Simply Lemonade® from Simply Beverages™, which doesn’t have any added preservatives, colors or artificial flavors. We LOVE this lemonade on its own and we’ve even been known to throw some in a blender with ice and make frozen lemonades. But for our picnic, we decided to come up with some fun and refreshing recipes by adding yummy ingredients to Simply Lemonade. Since Sawyer was my helper and berries are his favorite, we came up with a berry blend that was perfectly sweet and delicious! For a more tart and refreshing flavor, I came up with a sparkling mint and honey lemonade that Ben and I loved.

Sparkling Summer Refresher

Ingredients:

15 ounces Simply Lemonade®

2 tbsp. honey

10 mint leaves

6 ounces sparkling water

Combine Simply Lemonade, honey, mint leaves and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until well combined. Then add the sparkling water and stir. Be sure to add the sparkling water AFTER shaking so you don’t shake out all the carbonation. Makes two 10 ounce servings. Pour and enjoy! Berry Bliss Lemonade

Ingredients:

1/4 cup blueberries

1/4 cut strawberries

2 tbsp. honey

20 ounces Simply Lemonade®

Combine Simply Lemonade and ice in a cocktail shaker. In a small bowl, drizzle the honey over the berries then use a fork to mash the berries. Pour the berry mixture into the cocktail shaker and shake until well combined. Makes two 10-ounce servings. Pour and enjoy! I packaged the lemonades in mason jars with lids to make them easy to take on our picnic. We’ve learned to manage expectations as parents. So often we’ve made big plans, had big hopes for our adventures with our boys, only to be disappointed when the adventure ended with tears and tantrums. Now we work on living in the moment. We take each adventure minute by minute. Soaking in all the goodness, feeling gratitude when the boys are kind to each other, counting the smiles and giggles, making memories while trying to forget the meltdowns.

A few weeks ago Wesley asked me if I remembered the first time we took our puppy, Maverick, to the beach. This “adventure” was nearly two years ago and YES I remembered.

I remembered because it was a miserable outing.
We got lost on the way to the dog-friendly beach.
It was way colder than we dressed for and the wind was blowing sand in our ears and eyes.
The boys cried and whined nearly the entire time and Maverick got the leash tangled around every other dog there.
I remember feeling stressed and exhausted.

Wes: That was a really fun day. We should go again.Sawyer:Yes let’s go to the doggy beach again Mommy!

I almost corrected them but a fleeting thought made me pause. They didn’t remember the sand in their eyes and shivering until their teeth chattered. They didn’t remember the tears. Nope. Their memory was a good one. They remembered taking their excited puppy to the beach for the very first time. And they wanted to do it again.

Me:That was a special day, wasn’t it! Let’s add that to our Summer List!

I’ve talked on this blog before about being the memory makers for our children–about how I feel it’s my responsibility as their Mom to make opportunities to build the memories that will be the foundation of their childhood. I’m a realist and I know that not all of those memories can be positive. But I also know that children are inherently optimistic and what we may see as a sandy, miserable day at the beach, they see as an exciting adventure with their puppy.

I prepared for our picnic this weekend as if it were another trip to the windy dog beach. I managed my expectations. Surely they would spill their drinks, fight over the last strawberry and complain that I didn’t pack dessert. But you know what?! Our picnic adventure was dreamy! The sun was shining, the boys were sharing, the food was yummy and the drinks refreshing. We chased the ducks, threw the football and tried to catch unsuspecting fish with a net…and while I sipped my lemonade, I gave thanks for the gift of this day: a day that the boys and I will BOTH look back on with fond memories of childhood adventures.

What’s on your summer bucket list? Tell me in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

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christina lipscomb

Shannon

June 7, 2016 at 1:03 am

Hi Ashley!
I’m not entering anything…
Just want to make sure you know about the great off-leash beach at Rincon Point. It may be a bit far, but it’s totally worth it.
I don’t have a dog, but I walk there sometimes on Sunday mornings. The people and dogs are so nice!
The boys will love the tide pools at low tide, too!

Visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their brand new baby girl in Japan is on my Bucket List, and I just booked my ticket to leave in a couple of weeks! So excited to see them and meet my sweet little niece! 🙂

We have the same kind of day out planned for a day this week when my husband is off of work! Lunch at the park to discuss what we want to do this summer. I have a feeling our bucket list will include going to the splash pad, one on one dates with each of our 3 kids, beach time, strawberry & blueberry picking, visiting our local farm (they have the best mini donuts!) and going to get ice cream a jillion times. Your berry lemonade recipe sounds amazing! Just added the ingredients to my shopping list.

Jenna

Kristen

August 1, 2016 at 1:31 pm

Our summer bucket list includes lots of learning and lots of fun! We’ve already crossed off times tables for one kiddo and tying shoes for another! It’s so fun to see them excited about learning something new!

katherine

sandra

Betty Curran

September 3, 2016 at 8:14 pm

I’ve already crossed off the main item on my summer bucket list although it’s very small one. My grandson and I spent a lazy afternoon at the lake with our fishing poles. No fish dinner, but a great time together.